How To Grow Pumpkins In Uganda
Pumpkin is a large rounded orange-yellow fruit with a thick rind, the flesh of which can be used in sweet or savoury dishes.
How to plant Pumpkins in Uganda.
It’s best to plant your pumpkins on moulds, though even a flat surface can work. Plant seeds 1 inch deep at a rate of 4 to 5 seeds per hill and 5 to 6 ft between hills.
When seedlings are well established thine each hill to leave at most 2 plants per hill.
Go ahead to space 4ft between hills and 8 ft between rows.
Prune vines early in the season to discourage random growth and out of control patch.
Keep pumpkin plants free of weeds by hoeing and shallow cultivation. Irrigate your plantings if there happens to be extended dry periods.
Watch out for powdery mildew which causes a dusty white mould on the plant, cucumber beetles as these mainly attack seedlings and the vines at their tender age.
Tips for growing Pumpkins in Uganda
Open up the land you are going to use for planting.
Clear up the land and heap up soils to make ridges
At a spacing of 4ft between hills and 8 ft set up hills in arrow.
On the crest on the ridge open up a hole 1 inch deep, then sow seeds at a rate of 4 to 5 seeds.
Cover the seeds gently with soil and lightly water.
After about 10 days the seeds will have established so go ahead to prune.
Weed your pumpkins to prevent competition for growth nutrients
Often you should spray the pumpkins with pesticides and fungicides to keep off pests and diseases.
After 120 days you can harvest your pumpkins for table.
How profitable is pumpkin growing in Uganda?
Each plant produces as many as 30 per season, which results in over 9,000 per acre or more. If the moderate price is sh1,000, then that is sh9m per acre. Pumpkins are perhaps one of the easiest foods to grow.
How long do pumpkins take to mature in Uganda?
It takes about 100 to 120 days for a given pumpkin variety to reach maturity. Pumpkins are hand harvested at their mature stage. Multiple harvests are so common because individual fruits are pollinated at different time’s .